The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006)
Genre: Drama / War
Duration: 127 minuten
Country:
Ireland / United Kingdom / Germany / Italy / Spain / France / Belgium / Switzerland
Directed by: Ken Loach
Stars: Cillian Murphy, Liam Cunningham and Gerard Kearney
IMDb score:
7,5 (56.741)
Releasedate: 23 March 2006
The Wind That Shakes the Barley plot
"War has cost them their innocence... Freedom will cost them their blood."
The story is set during the Anglo-Irish War and the ensuing Civil War from 1919 to the early 1920s. Irish guerrilla groups roamed the country fighting the British 'Black and Tan squads'. In one of these groups are the two brothers Damien and Teddy and we see what the war is doing to both their families and their country.
Actors and actresses
Damien O'Donovan
Teddy
Dan
Sinead
Donacha
Johnny Gogan
Sir John Hamilton
Micheail
Julia
Sweeney
Reviews & comments
Fisico (moderator films)
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- 10009 messages
- 5398 votes
The wind that shakes the barley tells the story of the Irish struggle for independence in the 1920s. In that respect, the film reminds me of Jimmy's hall, which was only released a few years ago. Somewhat surprisingly awarded the Palme d'Or in Cannes ahead of Almodovars Volver and Babel by Inarritu. It is a pity that I feel that I cannot appreciate the film (read: the events / the story) enough because I do not know enough the political history of Ireland and, by extension, Northern Ireland.
Nevertheless, Loach delivers a beautifully poignant portrait of the unequal struggle between the Southern farmers and the British rulers. British power excels in the beginning of the film when a young Irishman is beaten to death after a nasty villain. Later it gets even worse with the torture scene where my fingers started to itch from discomfort.
Loach paints a picture as you would expect from a hard and bitter civil war. Rough and negative, almost ruthless, each convinced of his own right. Loach seems to side with the Irish and the British are one-dimensionally portrayed as bad. But he does not fail to highlight the hard battle from the Irish side. It's not just "the good against the bad". A beautiful role by Cillian Murphy who beautifully portrays the idealist Damien.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Lovelyboy
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- 3573 messages
- 2647 votes
The wind that shakes the barley sketches the beginning of the English Irish War of Independence and does not let grass grow on it. Pretty soon the tone is set in terms of hatred, contempt and violence towards each other. In that sense, the film starts attractively and you soon stumble from one violent incident into another, a course that is used for too long at a certain point without going into depth with the characters.
The film then gets bogged down in characters that aren't explored in depth and aren't very captivating, and one action after another with a lot of hysterical screams. Something that works well in the initial phase, but at a certain point is against it. The switch to a more political slant and the problems surrounding the own people who exercise more control and behave no differently than the English, come too late to make the film even more interesting and to give it something extra. All in all, not exciting enough in the long run and not what I had hoped for.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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